Leslee's Cookies

Okay so I made half a batch regular and half a batch gluten free. The gluten free ones didn't work out so well but the dough tasted delicious! Gluten free baking is pretty darn tricky. Anyway the other ones turned out great! I mixed them up and added chocolate chips because that is the way Sean likes them. I chilled the dough roll for a few hours before slicing and baking. I probably could have sliced the dough a bit thinner but they made some good sized cookies. Sean thought they were delicious and I forgot to take a picture before they were all one! This recipe probably wasn't too different from other oatmeal cookies but I like the rolling and slicing method. I will make these again!

Jacki’s Review of Oatmeal Crispies

I made these cookies the other day and they are absolutely delicious.  I halved the recipe and then left half of that just plain with the pecans and then added choc chips and dried cranberries to the other half.  I really liked rolling the dough up in wax paper, chilling in the fridge and then slicing the dough.  They came out perfectly when I cooked them.   After they cooled I had to put them in a bag and freeze them so I would quit eating them! – cookie are my downfall.   I hope you all get a chance to make them. 

Leslee’s Mac n Cheese

I finally got all the supplies so I could try out this dish! I have only attempted mac n cheese once and it wasn’t too good, so I was hoping this time around would be more successful.  After reading so many people’s reviews I added less mustard powder, a little less flour and a little more milk and used sharp cheddar.  I made gluten free noodles and used rice flour which probably didn’t make a huge difference.  I cooked the noodles until they were just about done so I only baked it for about 15 minutes.  I halved the recipe which made plenty for a side dish for our meal.  I had fun making this and we thought it was pretty good.  The mustard flavor was not strong at all and it had a cheesy taste.  I might add some more of the ground red pepper and regular pepper next time for a little bolder of a flavor.  Everyone ate it right up…even Summer who doesn’t normally like any mac n’ cheese (even Kraft!).  I will definitely make this one again!

Jenny's Mac and Cheese

My husband and I are mac and cheese junkies, so I was excited for this recipe. I followed Jacki's advice and did two level tsp. of dry mustard instead of heaping tsp. And we used sharp cheddar cheese. I also added a little cayenne pepper and paprika for a little zing. We were having company for dinner, and I was going to be gone late afternoon and wouldn't be home to make dinner, so I made it earlier in the day and then put it in the fridge and baked it right before dinner. I don't have the cookbook, so I looked up this recipe on her blog and it said that for super creamy macaroni you didn't have to bake it, just serve it right away. My husband and I tried it before I refrigerated it and it was SO good! And super cheesy/saucy. But we also liked it after it was baked. My company said he thought it was great macaroni and cheese too, so it was a success all around :)

New recipes for week of March 27

I thought I would change things up a bit this week and choose a dessert. I decided on Oatmeal Crispies on pg 226. I actually just made up too batches of the dough (gluten free and regular) and it is chilling in the fridge just waiting to be baked. The dough is really tasty so I think these will be good!!

Kim's mac and cheese

I made this a few nights ago but forgot to take any pix of it! I don't know how that happened, but it did. I thought this was yummy but I wish I would have seen Jacki's review before I made it because I would have put less dry mustard for sure. The taste was a little too much for me. It was the first thing you could taste when you took a bite. My husband took his first bite and said "OK, so there is mustard in it?!". I think when she called for 2 "heaping" teaspoons of dry mustard, I made mine a little TOO heaping. Other than that we really liked it and I will probably make it again.

Rutter Mac-N-Cheese

We made this recipe Wednesday night. Grandma and Grandpa Burrows are in town visiting, and we were able spend time with them as well. I have to say overall, we were not impressed. I think we all agreed that we would want more liquid, salt, and cheese. The cheesy taste was definitely lacking. I did hear that less mustard next time is also something that would be changed. I think that the recipe is a good base to learn how to make homemade mac-n-cheese, but we would definitely make changes to improve it to our taste.

Multi-tasking....I'm practicing this skill more. I will definitely need it here in about 5 months!!! LOL!!!

Pre-Baked

Audrey and Grandma having a great time. Quote of the night," Mother, if you can't follow the rules of cooking night, then you can't play with us!" So funny!!! We had such a GREAT time laughing and enjoying each others company.

Right out of the oven....nice and hot!

Done!!!! Ding, ding, ding, Come and Get It!!!!!

Jacki’s Review of Macaroni and Cheese

I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago as I figured someone would select it soon.  I have never had much luck making homemade Mac n’ Cheese (the sauce part usually turns out thick and grainy like) but this turned out pretty good!  I don’t remember ever cooking the flour and butter combo as long as PW calls for (5 min.) so maybe that is why.  I had to throw out the first attempt at cooking the roux because I guess I had the flame to0 high and it tasted a little burnt.  The second time was a charm although five minutes seemed like a long time.  It was an easy recipe and tasted good although next time I will not add as much dry mustard as called for and I will try some different cheeses.  I used a medium sharp cheddar but I think a blend of some different ones would be good.  I didn’t take a picture but I served it with some grilled chicken/apple sausages and a green salad.

Jacki’s Review of Lasagna

I made this Lasagna last week when Nika and family were visiting so we had several taste testers.  I did change a couple of things in the recipe.  I don’t like a lot of meat in my lasagna so I only used 1 pound of ground beef for total meat.  I think the sausage would have been good so I will use that as well next time.  Also, I just used dried spices – Italian seasoning, basil and parsley and that tasted just fine.  Other than that I followed the recipe.  We all thought it was good although the kids didn’t want to eat any.  Nika thought the sauce could have used just a bit of sugar in it.  I liked the recipe and would make it again.  I do like ricotta cheese in lasagna and would probably try that next time.  It is a rather pricey recipe but it served us well for a few meals.

Sorry – I didn’t do a very tidy job of dishing my serving up.

New Recipe!!

For this weeks recipe I wanted to choose something that my kids would eat. So, I decided to do the Macaroni and Cheese on page 96-97. Hopefully its equal to or better than Kraft! Yummy!!!

Rutter Lasagna

Okay...so we like this recipe. I wouldn't not sat it was like WOW!!!! Don't get me wrong it was tasty, but it was lasagna. It was not one of our standouts. It did take a little while to prep and cook. I would suggest not starting cooking this at 8:00 p.m. (Mistake I made!!!)

My mom, getting the parsley ready. We couldn't find fresh basil so I substituted using the dry. It was difficult to judge how much to use. I think I used about 1/8 c. of basil. I was afraid that would be way to much but it turned out tasting fine.

The only thing I would change in the recipe is the cottage cheese. I prefer ricotta in my lasagna. I can say that the cottage cheese gave the lasagna a lighter taste where the ricotta has a much richer taste.

Ta Dah!!!! Finished...Phew...that took some time, but it was yummy!

Jenny's Lasagna

I made the lasagna a few days ago. It turned out so good! It was very time consuming...and kinda pricey...but tasted yummy! And since it is so much food, I ended up freezing half of it for a later date. Neither one of my kids were happy when I put their plates in front of them (which is why in the picture James' plate is in the middle of the table...he pushed it away)and they didn't want to touch the lasagna. But we finally convinced them each to try a bite and then they loved it! They both ate everything on their plate! So since it was a hit all around we will definitely make it again. I didn't change anything on the recipe, just made it as was written.

Kim's meatballs and lasagna

I made the meatballs a few days ago. I was babysitting 6 kids plus my 2, making a grand total of 8 kids at my house. I thought this was a perfect thing to feed them all and I was right!!! They were a little time consuming and I had 8 starving kids when I pulled them out, but it was worth the wait. Every single meatball was gobbled up. Some kids were even saying "Meatballs are my favorite", "This is SO good", etc. We were a big fan of these!!



The lasagna was really good. I made it exactly how she said and I thought it turned out good. It made a lot though. I will probably half it next time. We barely made a dent in it and have eaten it for 2 days since, with much more remaining. The flavor of the sausage was yummy! We will make both of these recipes again for sure!

Leslee's Lasagna

I made this last night and made a few little changes to it.  I didn't put as much cottage cheese and mozzarella cheese in mostly because I didn't really read the recipe well before I went grocery shopping.  I don't think this made a huge difference and it tasted the right amount of cheesy-ness.  I also forgot to add the herbs in.  The noodles that I used were gluten-free and the box said not to boil them before using so I just put them in hard.  The ones on the bottom and some on the sides were a little crunchy still but that was just my fault.  One thing I probably would have changed was to use diced tomatoes instead of the whole ones.  I tried to break most of them up but both Sean and I felt like they were just too big.  Overall this was really good! I am not usually a lasagna fan and hardly ever make it but I enjoyed this recipe. 

Recipe for week of March 13th

For this week I am picking the Lasagna recipe on pages 184-187. I am hoping it is good, which I think it will be since I've enjoyed the other recipes I've tried from this book. I don't love the way I have been making lasagna, so hopefully I will love this one and can add it to my regular line-up!

Jacki’s Review of Edna Mae’s Pancakes

I was reading all of the positive reviews about these pancakes this morning and decided we must have these for breakfast……today! I checked in the fridge and luckily I had just enough sour cream and just enough eggs.  So, I made them and they were delicious.  I am really glad everyone else made them first so I could learn from all of your comments and suggestions.  I was careful not to stir too much and they did take a long time to cook but since there was only the two of us it wasn’t a big deal.  We decided they tasted a bit French toasty.  They were very light and fluffy and it was easy to eat several:)  I even pulled out the real maple syrup for the occasion – excellent.

Jenny's Pancakes

Hi, girls! Leslee, thanks for the introduction. As Leslee said, I am friends with she and Kim down here in Texas. I love to cook, and I love looking through new cookbooks, so I was so excited when Leslee invited me to the blog.

I made the pancakes earlier this week. We loved them too. They had a really good flavor and texture and were so easy to whip up. I agree with Tarin about the cooking time. They seemed to take a little longer to cook through. I ended up turning the heat down a bit because the first batch got a little darker than what we like :) But after adjusting the heat they turned out great! My 5-year old Avery stated they were "scrumptious"! I would definitely make them again.

I also made the comfort meatballs a couple weeks back, which we loved. I don't have pictures, but they were a big success in our house. They were a little time consuming, but worth the effort.

And the breakfast burritos were a hit too. I haven't gotten around to the potato skins yet, but they look so yummy. Can't wait to try them too.

Rutter Pancakes

So let me first say....Oh my word....These were the best pancakes I have EVER had. They were also a huge hit!!! We all loved them.

I was afraid that I was going to over do it when stirring the ingredients. It was really lumpy and thick. Based on the batter, I really thought the pancakes were going to be heavy and not so tasty. I was WRONG!

I found that making little pancakes with this batter cuts cooking time. I made bigger pancakes to start out and it took them much longer to cook. The smaller cakes, however; cooked perfectly.

Brandon and Brock enjoying the first round of pancakes. They really liked them!

Finished....Oh, I really want to be eating these pancakes again soon!!!!

Tarin's Pancakes

Well just a few things first...

1. We all loved these pancakes! They were perfect and fluffy and light and filling all at the same time.

2. I didn't tell Doug about the sour cream and he told me they were the best pancakes he'd ever had :)

3. I didn't change anything about this recipe, I just wish it made more...I doubled the recipe and it still only made 10 pancakes.

4. I found that these took a lot longer to cook than normal pancakes. I'm not sure why, but I cooked them at the same temp I normally do and they still seemed to take forever!

Here's step one:

And then the finished batter...it was really hard not to stir it too much, especially when I could still see some of the egg, but I'm really glad I contained myself.

And Voila! the perfect pancakes.

Leslee's Pancakes

Wow, the sour cream really made these yummy! I made them for Sean on Sunday morning and tried to keep the whole sourcream thing a secret but apparently he keeps up to date on what recipe we will be trying.  He tried them none the less and thought they were great.  I made some for me this morning making a few adjustments to make them gluten free and they were so good.

Also we have a new cooker joining us! Her name is Jenny and she is a friend I have made down here in Texas.  I know she has already started cooking so we will look forward to her reviews:)



Kim's pancakes!

No pix this time because we have made these pancakes 100 times!!! It was the first recipe we made when I got this book (I cheated a little and made a recipe that wasn't assigned). It is now a staple at our house. At least once a week we eat the most yummy pancakes ever. I hope you all like them too!!!

Tarin's Potato Skins

I love, LOVE, L-O-V-E, love potato skins. They are my favorite appetizers when we go out, so I was really excited to make these. I used some small (2 bite sized) yukon golds for this and they were just right!

Loving the bacon and extra sharp chedder.

The only thing I did differently was broiling them for 2-3 minutes at the very end to make them extra crispy!

The perfect man's meal :) This is definitely a keeper.

Recipe for the Week of March 6th

Alright everybody. I'm a little nervous about doing these but I've chosen the Edne Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes for this week. No one is allowed to mention this to my husband though because he has an intense dislike for sour cream...so the real trick is to see if he notices or not :)

Rutter Potato Skins.....So GOOD!!!

So I have to say, this recipe was a big hit!!!! We all loved them and they were so easy to make.

We decided to leave a little more of the potato in the skins as suggested.

Getting ready for the oven.

Oh man, I am starting to get hungry!!! The only suggestion on the potato's was to add more cheese next time. I was afraid I didn't use enough, but was also afraid I used too much. Next time, there will be more cheese!!! :0)

Finished....and ready to devourer!

Along with our meal, Brandon cooked steak....Brazilian style. It was so yummy.

Oh, nothings is better than steak, potatoes, and salad! This is just a different take on the classic steak and potatoes. We all loved the meal and this will definitely be a repeat.